The Grace Train

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Four years ago, I was in the hospital getting ready for the birth of my first and only son, CJ (or as I like to call him French Fry). I'm not sure where the nickname came from, but I do love those hamburger sidekicks and I love my little man. As someone who became a Mom relatively late in life, it's amazing just how much having a son has changed my life.

I am so grateful to God for the blessing of being his Mom. I've never done anything as difficult and as rewarding as being his mother. When RJ and I dedicated CJ at our church, this is the blessing we wrote for him:

CJ, may the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the love and truth of Jesus always guide you.
May you be caring in all your relationships and
compassionate to those in need.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength.
And may the Spirit of God always be with you.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

As I've mentioned before, my husband and I have recently gotten aboard the auction train. Inspired by the shows Auction Kings and American Pickers, we've got a small rotation of auctions that we visit frequently.

Last Friday night, we experienced our first table auction as sellers at Braxton's Auction. We've attended one table auction before, but this time we hosted a table with our own goodies to sell.

It was so much fun! At a table auction, whoever gets the highest bid has the option of purchasing anything on the table. For that price, you can get as many items you want. Bids usually start around $20. Once nobody will bid at least $5, the auctioneer groups together items until someone is willing to go $5 or more.

Since we were newbies, we had our table packed with items -- not being sure of what would sell. We had so many things on our table that the auctioneer took some items off and we covered two tables. We actually made a profit that night and ended up with some spending money for me to buy my own goodies.

﻿
﻿﻿﻿

These are the glass items that I really wanted to win -- especially the
honey box in the front.

﻿﻿﻿ ﻿

I had my eye on a black/deep purple honey box made by Tiara. They were a company that sold glassware at home parties from 1970 to 1998. Most of the items were reproductions of Depression glass from the 1920s. I love Depression glass because I have some pieces from my grandmother. Most of those pieces are translucent pink.

Unfortunately, I was outbid on my honey box. No worries, there's still the auction next month!

Monday, February 21, 2011

I'll be the first to admit: I am not a good sick person. I don't like being sick and I'm "Grumpy McGrumpy Pants" when I do get sick. Unfortunately, sickness has come for a visit at our house hitting both CJ and me. So far, RJ has survived unscathed.

I have some sort of cold. Fortunately, having in-laws who are retired pharmacists has great benefits -- like getting recommendations on medicine. So far, their latest suggestion of Mucinex seems to be doing the trick. On a side note, Mucinex is the medicine with the cartoon commercial with the gross looking green guy. Meanwhile, their packaging has nothing to do with that green guy or the color green. It is a very nondescript white box. Looks like they would market it to help you find the product easily. RJ almost didn't find the right one since he was looking for the gross green guy.

I must give a sincere thanks to the makers of Vicks Vapo Rub. That stuff works wonders. It's one of the few things that keeps me from coughing throughout the night. It may just be the memories of having my Mom slather it on my neck when I was a little girl, but that eucalyptus smell always makes me feel better. I've heard of people putting it on their feet, but I've never tried it.

And, I have got to thank the makers of Play-Doh for helping me keep CJ entertained during the past few days. Looks like he caught a stomach bug and has been having trouble keeping his food down. This is a problem for a little boy whose favorite past time is eating. He keeps looking at me with his big brown eyes saying, "I'm hungry. Can I have just a little snack?" So far, his food has been very bland and in very short supply. I hope that tomorrow he can return to his preschool. I've been trying to keep him in the parts of our house without carpeted floors. Playing with Play-Doh in the kitchen has been an ideal location.

I'm hopeful and prayerful that the rest we've gotten today combined with some good medicine will get both of us back to our regular routines tomorrow. I'm watching way much too TV. But I'm having fun exploring some blogs that I usually don't have time to read.

By the way, if you've made it to the end of this post, I'd love for you to Follow Me with Google Friend in the left-hand sidebar of my blog. So far, I have one friend and I'm feeling like I did in middle school when I was the last one picked on the playground. Please help me feel socially accepted in the blogosphere!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Love is patient and kind. (like when you wash the dishes for me that have been in the sink for way too long, even though you cooked dinner)

Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. (like when you affirm me spending time with the chicks so that I can have some girl time)

Love does not demand its own way. (like when you watch “SuperWhy” with CJ instead of Sports Center.)

Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. (like when you fill up my gas tank in the wee hours of the morning because I forgot that it was almost on Empty)

It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. (like when you help people at work who are struggling with loss after a disaster)

Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (like when you encourage my efforts to get in shape even though you’ve heard me make the same statements for the past 12 years)

Love will last forever … (till death do us part)

There are three things that will endure – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love. (I love you, wonderfulness!)

Friday, February 4, 2011

"Let the little children come to me. Luke 18:16," he replies happily, doing hand motions that he's made up with the verse.

My heart gets warm and fuzzy when I hear my 3 year old — almost 4 year old — son memorize Scripture. It's because I want to be a good role model to him that I'm attempting for the umpteenth time to make the Bible more of a priority in my life. As a book lover, I think it would great to actually know God through reading the Bible.

So here I go again — I'm trying to read the Bible through in a year. As someone who named my blog Book Smart Mom and has loved books since I was a little girl, it totally mystifies me how I've never managed to read the Bible from cover to cover. You would think sometime in the 30 years that I've called myself a follower of Jesus that I could manage to read one book.

My inspirations for this journey are my little boy and a 7-year-old girl I've never met. Her mother, Kat, wrote on her blog Inspired to Actionabout her daughter reading the entire Bible. "I love that she just did it," Kat writes. "She didn’t talk about doing it. She didn’t list the reasons why she couldn’t. She just did it. One page at a time."

I've heard people compare the Bible to a library since it contains so many smaller books. All I know is that several times I've started reading the Bible through Genesis and Exodus only to get stuck in Leviticus.

Since I work best with a plan, I'm using Read Thru the Word with speaker and blogger Wendy Pope. Using a chronological version of the Bible, she guides people through the Bible in a year. Each day, she posts some main points and includes a 10-15 minute video of her thoughts about the reading.

So far, so good. I'm up to date with my readings and since it's in chronological order, I've already done the book of Job before starting on Exodus. We're on day 35 with 330 remaining, but who's counting?

Monday, January 31, 2011

Over at the blog "All the Weigh," there's Friend Makin Monday each week. The idea is to connect with other bloggers and find out more about each other.A Short Survey

1) What is your favorite household chore? And what is your least favorite?
This is like asking what is my favorite torture device. I'm going to go with washing laundry as my favorite and cleaning bathrooms as my least favorite.

2)What is your favorite city?
Destin
3) Have you found real love yet?
Yep, it's been almost 14 years.

5) What was your last thought before falling asleep last night?
I wished that my head would stop feeling congested and that I could just fall asleep already.

6) What's the worst injury you had as a child?
I cut my big toe on a floor heater vent. Gross, and I missed picture day at school.

7) Will you/have you worked out today?
No, enough said.

8) Do you tweet? If so, what's your name?
No.

9) List three things you wouldn't want to live without:
My boys, my best friends and dark chocolate

10) Hold old were you when you had your first kiss?
I was either 16 or 17. I had to wait way too long for that big moment.I'd love to have you comment below and answer your 10 questions or link to Friend Makin Monday.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Helen, a family friend, recently died from lung cancer. Only a few weeks earlier, CJ met Helen for the first time. He brought a bag of dinosaurs and a shy smile with him to her house.

Although Helen had an oxygen tank and tube to help her breathe, CJ didn't seem to mind. After his usual initial moments of shyness, he soon settled in and began to scour for food. Helen had leftover Christmas goodies, so CJ quickly became her best friend.

I knew Helen was seriously ill, But, I had no idea that we wouldn't be able to keep the promise we made as we were leaving to come back to her house for lunch, bringing a bag of hamburgers with us. The moment to tell CJ about Helen's death would be coming soon. It happened during a car trip two days after her death.

"Mommy, look, I found my dinosaur that I had at Helen's house," says CJ from his car seat.

"Really? It must have fallen out of your bag," I say.

"We need to take some hamburgers to Helen's house," he adds.

Uh, uh, here it comes, I think.

"Pumpkin, we won't be able to visit Helen's house. She was very sick and she died like Casey and Lady (these are two pets that recently died )," I say.

"Why?" he asks.

"Her lungs were very sick," I continue. "Remember how we prayed for her and her lungs to get better? They just didn't get better and she died."

My tears don't start until this point in our conversation.

"I'm sad," he says.

"I know, I'm sad, too," I finish.

"I sure am glad I found this dinosaur!" he exclaims.

"Me, too."

With our conversation about that topic finished, I start another train of thought and we move on.

I met Helen when I was around 8 years old. I always loved how funny she was and how she never talked down to me. She loved my drawings. I learned at my last visit to her house that she kept a drawing I did in high school. I never knew until visitation at the funeral home that she also made drawings.

I'm so glad that Helen is no longer suffering. But, I'm so sad that this world goes on without her. My family will miss her.

About Me

I'm a wife (married more than a decade) and mom (of a wonderful preschooler) trying to find balance in a hectic world. I've retitled by blog "The Grace Train" because I want to focus on the blessings God has given me while I hang on for the ride. I hope my blog will be inspiring, encouraging and entertaining.